How do AAMI standards bodies work?
Each committee or working group is led by two co-chairs who serve a maximum of two three-year terms. These volunteer leaders are crucial to the development of AAMI health technology standards and U.S. positions on international standards under development at the International Standards Organization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). They are responsible for managing group discussions, ensuring that all group members have the opportunity to have their perspectives heard, and facilitating the group reaching consensus on technical matters. It’s imperative to have the right leaders in place to steer AAMI’s dynamic standards groups and their respective work.
As we head into the Fall 2025 Sterilization Standards Week and prepare to kick off new standards projects, AAMI announced new co-chair appointments for several of its Sterilization Standards working groups, including several first-time co-chairs.
“We deeply appreciate that these professionals and experts in the field have chosen to dedicate their time and energy to shepherding the development of sterilization and sterility assurance standards and guidance for industry and healthcare facilities,” said AAMI Vice President of Sterilization Amanda Benedict. “The efforts of volunteer leaders like these are foundational to AAMI’s support of the safe and effective use of health technology. We also gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of the long-serving cochairs that preceded these new appointments – Susan Klacik and Sarah Friedberg for ST-WG40, Janet Prust for ST-WG03, and Jennifer Benolken for ST-WG07.”
Dr. Mary Ann Drosnock, head of clinical affairs at Healthmark, a Getinge company, and Horlando Cintron, manager of perioperative support services at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have been appointed as the new co-chairs for AAMI ST-WG40, Steam Sterilization Hospital Practices. Both are seasoned veterans as AAMI standards committee co-chairs, with Drosnock having overseen the revision of ANSI/AAMI ST91 published in 2022 and Horlando fresh off leading the revision of ANSI/AAMI ST58 published in 2024. They will no doubt serve as deft leaders for the revision of ANSI/AAMI ST79 which is just getting started.
Michael Bacik, principal engineer at STERIS, is lending his leadership and technical expertise as a newly appointed co-chair for AAMI ST-WG03, Industrial Moist Heat Sterilization. Although new to the role of AAMI co-chair, he has been a valuable member of several AAMI Sterilization working groups over many years. He also serves as a U.S. expert to ISO/TC 198/WG03, the international group responsible for ISO 17665 and a new standard under development for requirements for sterilizers used for the terminal sterilization of aqueous liquid in sealed containers
Dan Burgess, associate senior fellow, packaging engineer at Boston Scientific, will serve as the new co-chair of AAMI ST-WG07, Packaging Working Group, which serves as the U.S. mirror group to ISO/TC 198/WG07. The international working group is responsible for the development of the ISO 11607 series and is working on a new technical specification related to the receiving, handling, transportation, distribution, and storage of packaged sterile medical devices under the control of healthcare facilities. Burgess is a longtime member of the KiiP Kilmer collaboration team and an expert in medical device packaging.
Finally, we’re delighted that first time co-chair Dr. Timothy Hurtado, assistant director, sterile processing department at El Camino Health, and experienced co-chair Alpa Patel of Nelson Laboratories are teaming up to head the newly established AAMI ST-WG17, Cleaning and Disinfection. In addition to working on the development of a brand-new AAMI TIR127 focused on the development and validation of a disinfection process for reusable medical devices. WG17 is also responsible for formulating the U.S. position and comments on a new international standard for endoscope sampling and culturing under development in ISO/TC 198.
Congratulations to the newest group of appointed AAMI cochairs! We look forward to working with you in these leadership roles.
